TFTs Vs CRTs

Im running off an ancient monitor as all my money just went into a new system, and all of a sudden my desktop is very cramped. I've been looking at TFT Monitors and most seem to have a max res of 1280 x 1024 which to me see really low, when I could be running at pretty much double that on a CRT. I dont mind forking out themoney for a TFT if its going to be worth it, but for a gaming machine, if its not worth it I would rather just re-organise my room to fit everything in.

Any advice?

Also I heard rumours that there are some TFT screens that are TVs, and I think I heard you can use them as monitors too. Anyone heard anything about these?

Cheers

for gaming crt wins everytime those who say otherwise only say it cause they've spent £300+ on a tft and dont want to admit it aint as good ;)

for gaming if u have the money for a decent 17" tft then u can afford a top of the range 19" crt or a fairly decent 21" crt

gaming = crt simple as that ,unless u goto lans or really really need to save desk space

remember dont fall into the trap of "but it looks so damn sweet" buy whats best for you even if it takes up your entire desk and weighs more than an elephant :D

i use my machine for a lot of gaming, and i love my tft, i'd never buy another crt, people who say crt is better have usually only seen the dodgy carp in pc world or really need as eye test.

i had a 19" taxan crt for ages, i wanted to get a tft but i was scared about resolutions, dodgy pixels... the usual stuff. im so glad i made the change now though. everything is clearer and sharper on a tft, i always ran games at 1024x768 on my old monitor and didn't really wanna change so when i decided to buy a tft i got a 15" rather than a 17" as i was concerned about the native res being higher than 1024. does come down to personal preference in the end though im afraid, i can't imagine going back to mangy old crt with dull ugly colours but it's ur choice in the end.

btw rufus, what res do u use in windows and games usually?

OK fine the res of TFT's may not be great, but to be honest who really needs to run at silly resolutions, anything above 1280x1024 isn't really neededf, at least not for general computer use. For gaming TFT's are nearly as good as CRT's now (I never thought I'd say that!!!). However for playing DVD's, no where near as good. You just have to think about what you'll ues your mon for, if you play games and word process a lot then TFT's are good, if you're planning on watching DVD's with lots of friends sitting at silly angles to the screen, forget it...

I've currently got an Iiyama Pro 410 17" CRT but will be upgrading shortly to a Iiyama 431S (think the code is wrong...) 17" TFT.

ps da-ging ; but they DO look so sweet :-)

TFTs are no where near as good for gaming as CRTs yet. As was said above, those who say they are have spent stupid amounts like 3 or 4 hundred and don't want to admit that, although the image quality is lovely and sharp on TFTs, the response time, blurriness and ghosting issues are still there making gaming rather headache inducing. (Well it gives me a headache anyway :confused: )

Spend £150 and get the Iiyama VisionMaster Pro 413 I think it is. Excellent 17" CRT. If you want 19", get the VisionMaster Pro 454. Again I think that's what the model numbers are. I didn't check. Lol.

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Originally Posted by Howard

TFTs are no where near as good for gaming as CRTs yet. As was said above, those who say they are have spent stupid amounts like 3 or 4 hundred and don't want to admit that, although the image quality is lovely and sharp on TFTs, the response time, blurriness and ghosting issues are still there making gaming rather headache inducing. (Well it gives me a headache anyway :confused: )

Spend £150 and get the Iiyama VisionMaster Pro 413 I think it is. Excellent 17" CRT. If you want 19", get the VisionMaster Pro 454. Again I think that's what the model numbers are. I didn't check. Lol.

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I recently bought the VMPro 514 and the high contrast mode is amazing for games and DVDs - has made a big difference over the older tubes - it's comparable to the contrast on LCD's now.

Like BlueBot, I also run a Iiyama VM Pro 410 crt but just before christmas a friend of mine asked me to order him a cheap 17" TFT and I found an Acer for £270 which I ordered. When it arrived I unpacked it and got to use it for a week whilst he scraped the money together, and I have to say, the image quality and colours on it were absolutely amazing and I think the VM Pro 410 is one of the best 17" CRTs going.

If I had the money, I'd definitely swap my CRT for a TFT.

Also I played a few games on it and things like NFS:Underground looked superb.

My dad has a 15" TFT that he bought about 2 years ago and it's horrible imo, the contrast is crap, the images are too blocky and trying to watch any moving images on it is a waste of time, but things have definitely improved since then.

$0.02

I have been running a TFT for gaming etc for about 6 months. There is NO bluriness or ghosting, colours are vibrant and sharp and even watching movies is perfect on it. I guess it depends on the monitor you get as most things do.

I use an NEC 1760 NXBK

TFTs have the following weak areas IMO:

1. Relatively poor colour production, meaning they're not very good for design work
2. Particular poor when differentiating between dark colours, meaning they're not very good for watching certain DVDs on. A decent TFT will not feature any ghosting or blurriness though.
3. Limited "refresh" rate, meaning they aren't quite so good for really intensive games like Quake 3 (though they're fine for anything else, including CS and the like)

Unless you're doing one of the above three for several hours a day then TFTs win, IMO, due to their crisp image quality for general windows use, easiness on the eyes and portability/space saving.

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Originally Posted by Aaron

[*]Limited "refresh" rate, meaning they aren't quite so good for really intensive games like Quake 3 (though they're fine for anything else, including CS and the like)[/list].

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I have played UT2K3 with no probs at all and noticed no diff between CRT and TFT. UT2K3 was running 1280*1024 @ highest quality settings for all.

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Originally Posted by KraniX

btw rufus, what res do u use in windows and games usually?

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1600x1400 when I steal my dads monitor (because its max) and 1024 on the monitor I have on it at the moment, but I cant really say if im happy playing at that res on it becuase its a pretty dire monitor.... about 7 years old with a fading tube.....

Cheers guys for the advice, I think I will stick with a good CRT, any suggestions, bigger is better for me, anyone got any suggestions on any 19" and 21" models?

Rufus

get a DIMONTRON NF or sony's equivilent, not a shadow mask. this basically means the screen will be 100% flat rather than a bit curvey, and the quality will be higher. make sure the screen will run your chosen res @ 85hz or above for crispness, and get something with a good warentee

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Originally Posted by Richie

I have been running a TFT for gaming etc for about 6 months. There is NO bluriness or ghosting, colours are vibrant and sharp and even watching movies is perfect on it. I guess it depends on the monitor you get as most things do.

I use an NEC 1760 NXBK

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I have the same monitor, and I agree with Richie above, It is more expensive than a CRT, and it may not QUITE be as good, but for me its more than good enough. As for not being as good for design (as Aaron says), I have had no problems with it, and actually prefer it to a CRT, as the pixels are more clearly defined in native resolution, and the colour reproduction is not a problem. I say this as a product design student who uses Illustrator and Photoshop daily.

The only problems that I have seen are the increased perception of jpeg type compression in pictures, or divx, but if anything, this is because the displays are too bright and accurate for the quality of the picture.

The main advantage for me with a TFT is the hugely reduced deskspace; oh, and the fact that I can put two big fat speakers next to it, and not have it go purple :D

If your in the market for a nice tft then have a look at the ag rangag neovo AG's site had the plesure of using this for a weekend lan that i went to and while it did have some cons to it overall i am very happy with the tft, they have come a long way since i last looked and used one and to tell you the truth i was never impressed with it but this one has done :)

still like my crt but for lans the tft wins hands down.

Apex

i have a fairly cheap tft, so i ain't saying it's great to justify the cost, anyway ive got loads of dosh (not, lol) so id just buy a big crt if i wanted to.

i have NEVER EVER had any ghosting or bluring, anyone who lives in the essex area is welcome to pop round for a cup of tea and they can have a look themselves. ghosting etc. was a problem ages back with old tfts, its virtually unheard of now.

i'll be honest and say some divx movies can look a bit dodgy/pixely - but i put that down to the quality of the encoding, i don't play many dvd movies on my pc but the ones i have looked good.

if you want a good tft monitor then make sure you have a fat wad of cash and look for any tft that has a response of 18ms or below, anything above will just be abismally carp...

P.s. i have a spacious cornerstone 21" kotching on desktop

21" cornerstone baby

i have a 15" tft, which I spent £400 on, 18 months ago

and it rocks. i use it for all tasks (lots of media, lots of gaming), and really don't notice ANYTHING wrong with, say, ghosting (which only really applies to passive matrix laptops from the mid 90s) or or blurring (which applies to crappy packard bell screens runnign through VGA)

worth noting is that response times are a fairly useless value - e.g. iiyama usa say 25msec for a screen iiyama uk say 16msec for.

just get a good screen from a good brand & you won't look back (i.e. try the iiyama prolite e431s)

Get a LaCie ElectronBlue if you can afford it, they are a professional Graphics dessigners monitor, I have one at home and it is a beaut. I have a very high quality Philips 19" TFT here at work and it is still crap compared to the worst CRT I have had, anyone who claims that TFT is better is defending the price they have paid like was already mentioned.
Prices might be high on the Lacie but if you can afford it, it is one of the best, is basically a rebadged Sony Trinitron, masking lines are hardly visible but present.

http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?id=10037

Better in all areas? Maybe not just yet, but certain things are better, and the others are comparable, tft tech is getting better all the time, crt isn't, it's a dying technology.

Just because that philips monitor wasn't much cop, doesn't mean *all* tft's are immediately inferior, hell I've got a rather expensive 19" crt in from of me at the minute, and my mum's cheapo lg tft knocks the spots off it in terms of brightness and contrast.

"anyone who claims that TFT is better is defending the price they have paid like was already mentioned" - nice sweeping statement there, I don't own a tft at all, yet I'm not so narrow minded that I can't see the advantages and disadvantages in both, and believe me, the list of disadvantages on a tft monitor are getting shorter and shorter all the time.

The only real disadvantages of the latest panels now are 1) cost, and 2) resolution.
With crts - 1) deskspace, 2) weight, 3) brightness and contrast levels, and those aren't things you can change on a crt, the cost and resolution of tft panels can, and is being tackled.

We will agree to disagree, but the mainstream argument is on my side, I am not narrow minded when it comes to hardware but I am yet to be convinced that a TFT can be created which looks as good as a CRT. If you want a small footprint on your desk then in my opinion that is a good point but that does not take away from the fact that for this advantage you are losing picture quality advantages/disadvantages. You may like them but be a little more objective yourself rather than assuming that the space advantage ( which in my opinion is the only advantage) outweighs picture quality. With regard to brightness/contrast on the CRT monitors, I dont know what monitors you use where it is not changeable but mine always could.

"and believe me, the list of disadvantages on a tft monitor are getting shorter and shorter all the time." This argument being actually your main point does not cut much mustard with me, i.e. list of disadvantages is not a selling point.

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Originally Posted by Stoo

The only real disadvantages of the latest panels now are 1) cost, and 2) resolution.
With crts - 1) deskspace, 2) weight, 3) brightness and contrast levels, and those aren't things you can change on a crt, the cost and resolution of tft panels can, and is being tackled.

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CRTs
can't agree with point 3) - contrast on the new IIyama tubes is stunning, especially the high contrast modes now available.

LCDs
you have to add in 3) ghosting on LCD's - the response time and refresh needs to be a good deal better before you can compare like for like.

Ok i'll try to be subjective on this, I Just brought a new Diamondtron see sig and my brother just brought a iiyama prolite e431s after reading the review of it in cutompc, and having both in the house and regularly using his tft cos i'm gutted he could afford one and i couldn't i have had a fair bit of experience with both, and i have to say the my dimondtron is better(i'm not just saying this cos i couldn't get a prolite). The difference is very small and i have to say i'm really impressed with his screen great brightness, 16ms screen response, high contrast ratio, but the fact remain my dimondtron has the better, sharper picture, good in any resolution i choose to run it on and a superbright mode for video watching the melts your retinas, the prolite is awsome but my £200 Dimondtron does still beat his £350 prolite everytime(only just mind).

My advice would be...

1. Re-organise your destop! More space = more room to dump crap = longer to find what you want. Making it bigger isn't going to help! If you really need more screen real-estate why not consider a virtual desktop.

2. Gaming performance is pretty close to being a non-issue. Take a look at a good quality 16ms TFT with any recent game of your choice and you'll see how little there is in it.

3. For general working, I find a TFT much easier on your eyes.

4. TFTs take up less space on your computer desk so you can easily push it to one side when you need to use the desk for something else.

5. If you want to watch DVDs... use a proper DVD player and widescreen telly ;)

You know you want to! :D

cheers,
dave

i heard that by 2006 tft should account for 82% of the monitor market. currently tft is outselling crt 5:1.

can u guys who haven't actually seen a decent tft in action stop slating 'em and spurting rubbish that you've just read on some message board and actually have no experience of.

my lil sammy 152T has a quoted response time of 25ms but i still have yet to see any ghosting and i play loads of games, Q3, CS, Halo, Call of Duty, Wolf ET, GTA:Vice City, the list goes on and on...

i agree with stoo that the disadvantages of TFT are cost and resolution, cost isn't so much of an issue really since they are getting cheaper all the time. i will be happier when tfts will have more options for resolutions coz as we know anything but native res looks manky, which is why i got a 15" tft for gaming at 1024x768.

Can I ask the ppl who are stating that, in a side by side comparison, a CRT is better than a TFT for SHARPNESS is actually running the TFT display using a proper DVI cable and not some crappy VGA input ??

I run my main rig and server on the same monitor - main rig is plugged into DVI of TFT and server is plugged into VGA of TFT and I can switch between them with a button on the front. Anyways, I notice that the picture on the DVI part is FAR sharper than when I use the VGA one and I mean FAR FAR sharper.


On a side note - I guess this is another advantage of some TFT's in that you can effectively get 2 monitors in one. Using a program such as Synergy allows me to use both as Synergy is a software KM solution controlling the remote PC thru TCP/IP.